Pitter-patter of downpour so intense it numbs my ears.
Chilly droplets roll down my cheek.
‘I thought I could change my fate this time…’
The battlefield where all my comrades have perished.
The Grand Hertz Academy laid to waste, not even embers left, turned to ash.
‘Pina…’
I felt nauseous at my own failure, unable to protect even a single person.
Now all I can do is reach out for her who has vanished.
‘What the heck is this Black Knight stuff? What even is…’
Regret washed over me late.
If only I were a bit stronger, could I have saved everyone?
“Hehe, my lord. This is the power of the Demon God!”
Bright white hair like Pina’s.
The Magic Hat flaunted its fluffy wolf ears and tail attached to itself.
“I’ve become just like Pina Grancia now!”
With a slightly high-pitched voice, the Magic Hat began to speak sweetly, reminiscent of someone longed for.
“With this, you can surely love me, right…? Sir Knight?”
The footsteps echoing as it approached me resembled Pina’s.
Could the heart be the same if the appearance is identical?
‘No way.’
No matter how much it called me with Pina’s voice, her titles, her face, I felt a different emotion.
Even if it perfectly mimicked her appearance, it was completely different from my cherished Pina.
“Because I’ve absorbed all the memories of the Nameless Saintess!”
“…….”
The Magic Hat seemed to boast in proving itself.
No matter how much it imitated Pina Grancia, it couldn’t become her.
“Now, I can do everything that Saintess didn’t do for you…♡”
The Demon God mocked Pina, licking its lips.
Please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t ruin my memories of her.
Boom─!
In that moment, a heavy sound echoed from afar.
A pitch-black greatsword tangled in black rose vines.
“Uh, what? That can’t be…?”
The magic sword I used to slay it in the game fell from the sky.
As if answering my wish.
*
Blanc broke into a cold sweat, staring at the weapon that had dropped from the sky.
An ominous aura radiated from the sword.
Blanc took a step back, imagining her neck being chopped off.
“How did the Magic Sword Horizon end up here…?”
It was just a step forward.
Frowning at the unexpected guest, Blanc thought this must be a mistake. The current world should already be under her control.
She had ensnared the previous world line, making all of the Black Knight’s comrades perish.
And she claimed everything from the Nameless Saintess, Pina Grancia.
But what in the world was this before her?
The very weapon that had killed her before was now responding to its master’s call, falling from the sky.
‘Did someone tamper with the world line I dominantly control…?’
Even she, as the successor, couldn’t recall such a thing happening.
As worry set in, Blanc was about to reach out sinisterly to Lee Soo-hyun.
Black rose vines erupted from the ground, grabbing her arm.
“What the hell…!!”
The thickly perfumed roses bloomed from the vines.
Even as Blanc struggled to cut it away, the thorns dug deeper.
“…Why won’t it cut!!”
She ultimately had no choice but to cut her own arm to escape the situation.
With that, the lost rose vines, now futile.
The melted Mind Sword headed toward the immobile Lee Soo-hyun.
‘What in the world is happening right now…?’
Blanc, bleeding profusely from her impaled arm, could hardly believe her eyes.
Her powers weren’t activating since earlier.
Such injuries should easily heal as if nothing happened by her delusions of power.
“I’m a god! An all-powerful Demon God…!!”
Pitter-patter of the rain intensified.
Thinking again, she shuddered, realizing she couldn’t control even the weather.
When did I end up in such a predicament?
“…What does it matter?”
It was then. Amid the rain, a male voice reached her ears.
“My lord…? How…?!”
Blanc’s eyes widened upon seeing Lee Soo-hyun propped up by the Magic Sword Horizon.
At the same time, the rose vines surrounding the Black Knight began to fade. It seemed those roses had saved him.
“It doesn’t matter whether your power is from the Demon God or whatever…”
“Ah, no… that means..!!”
Lee Soo-hyun, glaring at the Magic Hat, twisted the sword’s handle.
Clang.
A ringing metallic sound followed.
The blade of Horizon began to disassemble into pieces, forming armor that adorned the man’s body.
“I’ll fight you until you’re dead, Magic Hat.”
Transformed into a heavily armored knight, he resembled Pina wearing glass armor.
“As sure as you are truly strong.”
He recited, almost verbatim, the phrase he had uttered when he killed Blanc before.
“D-Deus Ex Machina…!! Have him attack now!! Tell him to stop!”
In a panic, the Demon God called for the sage to attack him.
“My feelings are sincere too.”
White flames surged from the remaining handle of the Magic Sword as it took shape in his hands.
“Thought of Death. Horizon.”
BOOM─!!
With a single slash, the Deus Ex Machina was split in half, sending the sage within it tumbling out, unconscious.
“Whoever survives to the end is the true one.”
Finally, the Black Knight, who had lost everything, leveled his sword at Blanc, declaring war.
*
The loss of a loved one.
Wasn’t that the condition for a hero to turn into a Demon King?
‘The Demon King of Conviction… No, it would be more fitting to call it “No Thought.” I haven’t protected anything.’
Thought of Death and Thought of Remembrance.
The legendary magic sword, said to slice through the horizons where heaven meets earth.
Had he become able to wield powers because he had turned into a Demon King, not a hero?
“This can’t be true! This horizon is different from what I know…!!”
He had even saved the sage now transformed into the Deus Ex Machina.
As he cut through the Magic Hat with that sword, it bled, unable to heal its wounds.
“…I have to resort to my trump card.”
The Magic Hat shuffled its trump cards.
Cornered, the Demon God was preparing one last desperate struggle.
“Sir Knight… I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry for not being able to help…”
Suddenly, visions of Pina dying from countless world lines appeared before him.
“…Pina?”
In a pure white saint’s robe, Pina lay trapped beneath the ruins of a burning building, her expression one of agony.
“If you don’t wish to see these saintly figures die, surrender at once!”
The worst act the Demon God could commit, casting its reach across other worlds.
The Magic Hat was dragging Pina from parallel worlds to kill her here.
Why was it going to such lengths?
“Quick…”
“Run away…”
Crack, rumble, sounds of collapsing buildings screamed alongside her pain.
Seeing such a sight was unbearably grim, he raised his sword high.
“Alright. I’ll abandon the Magic Sword Horizon….”
BOOM─!
Slamming the magic sword into the ground, he shut down all the world lines the enemy had opened.
“This can’t be! You should suffer the same pain!!”
“……”
Facing the wretched creature, he gripped the sword’s handle with newfound strength.
With every step he took, conviction swelled within him.
It wasn’t about me being weak or him being strong.
It was his heart for Pina, a promise he wanted to keep for her.
Each movement strengthened his resolve.
“Even if you manipulate time and space, you can’t stop that sword?!”
The Demon God attempted to rewind time to evade his attacks, warping space to inflict wounds upon him.
Yet, everything was being repelled by the single sword, Horizon, that he wielded.
‘Perhaps it’s a gift from Pina of another world.’
The black rose vines that had just entangled him were what rescued him.
Boom─!!
He soared high into the air, aiming his sword at the Magic Hat’s neck.
Crick, crack. The sounds of struggle echoed as the Magic Hat desperately clutched his sword.
It seemed transforming into Pina was too much of a strain, reverting back into the Demon God’s original form.
“I-I’m being pushed back…? The one with divine powers is I…?”
As if to purge evil, flames erupted brighter from his sword.
“There’s no way… no way that can be true…”
“There’s just no way!!”
The Demon God’s expression twisted noticeably as he was slowly overwhelmed.
The so-called all-powerful god was now flailing like a flipped bug.
“Lies!! It’s all lies!!”
Yelling in refusal, the Demon God tried to deny reality.
“Actually, that’s ‘the truth.’”
Nothing existed beyond this.
Swish─.
As the shimmering silver flash beat against the battering rain and wind, he succeeded in beheading the Magic Hat.
[Lee Soo-hyun has vanquished the Demon God of Truth, Magic Hat!]
A similar phrase to what he saw just before receiving the beta tester email appeared in a golden status window before his eyes.
“I did it… I really did it…”
Filled with relief at having captured the Demon God, he turned around.
“Now everyone can rest easy…. Ah.”
But it seems games and reality were different.
The scorched earth and the lifeless bodies of his comrades remained unchanged.
[The hero and mage fled the battle.]
If the original caster dies, it should normally undo the powers. Yet the havoc caused by the Demon God remained intact.
[The problem was thinking their love was weak.]
“Why…?”
[And thus, the party that lost its strongest member was annihilated.]
“Why…?”
He thought capturing the Magic Hat would solve everything.
[Not even a gravestone was planted. They couldn’t recover even a body.]
“I caught it..! I defeated it!!”
Yet the status screen he had seen continued to repeat the same lines.
“Don’t I have to revive them all!!”
He screamed toward the rain-soaked sky. No matter how hard he cried and shouted, nothing returned.
[Among them, the Nameless Saintess couldn’t even be written on the list of the deceased.]
“….Pina.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, looking at the Diamond Queen card in his possession.
Finally, they had met. They had finally shared their truths and understandings.
“This isn’t… a happy ending…”
As icy raindrops lashed against his body, he let out a bleak sigh.
Was there truly no way out of this?
The weather was turning wintry, morphing droplets into snow.
Resembling something akin to Divine Power’s pure white hue.
“…Not yet.”
In that moment, a spark of inspiration ignited in his mind.
The god of healing had abided by the Divine Power at the shrine, having played a role in the Demon God War.
“Maybe that place could hold a chance.”
Even if I have to give my life, I will save everyone.
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